Shining Star
by Courtney JoAnne
Summary: In a futuristic world, an andriod that belongs to a rich man loses all of its memories. Is it a glitch in memories? Or is it fate helping a man move on and accept the loses he has avoided his whole life?  USxUK, Sci-fiRealism.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So this is a story I'm writing for my friend. It's uh… longer than I'm used to writing. I'm trying to fix that, I usually write very short chapters.  
>If not everything makes sense, I'm sorry, it will. So uh. Yes. Please Review. I tried really hard on this. There will be four chapters in total.<strong>

**Word: 1475**

_ "Is he okay?"_

_ "Stop! Someone got hit!"_

Two bright eyes opened, blinking, and he sat up. Looking around he saw people panicking, and a car stopped not too far from him. Was he the one that was hit? Judging by the fact that a man was putting a hand against the back of his head, and checking his eyes, he assumed yes.

_"Don't worry, it's just an android, he will be fine."_

_ "Oh it's just another stupid robot."_

_ "Really you can't trust robots now-a-days. Is it just me or have the logic levels gone down?"_

_ "I heard a lot of the newer models…"_

_ "Who's android….?"_

The voices faded out of his interest as he stood up, brushing himself off, only stopping when a short man with a German lilt to his voice addressed him.

"You…" he seemed hesitant to address a robot like one would a human, like most of society after the many accidents occurring on the part of them lately. " Where is your owner? Are you marked?"

That was a good question, and for some reason, no matter how much he searched through his data files, he couldn't find an answer.

"I… don't know." He could gather that whoever owned him was wealthy though; his voice bank was smooth and had no glitches. No unnatural pause between comprehending the question and answering.

"You don't know?" the man stepped forward and began to pick at his shirts, pushing up the sleeves to check for a tag. For some reason he felt violated…..

And then it hit him. He _**felt.**_

He felt a dull pain the back of his head where his metal cranium had hit the pavement. He felt shocked at the revelation that he could feel violated, he continued to feel violated as the short, irritated man continued to look for a the black numbers that would tell his system whom he belonged to. He felt.

"Well, I can't find a tag, so I'll have to take you to the station until someone comes and claims you. I'm sure you know how it goes…" the small man turned, beginning to walk back to his squad car which he had been patrolling in until he saw what he thought was a human get hit. He was used to the compliancy of robots, not questioning that the other would follow him. But he didn't want to, and luckily, at that moment, another man came running up, out of breath.

"Alfred, there you are! Why did you go running off like that? You could get hurt!" he looked down at the short man who had stopped next to him, not recognizing him. He did recognize the name though, and he gathered that was what his name was.

"Sir, is this your robot?" the short police officer had turned around to face the new comer, and did not look amused.

"Uhm yes Officer…" the short man had composed himself and glanced at the police badge on the man's uniform for help "Officer Zwingli. Is there a problem?" Whereas before he looked worried, now the newcomer looked nervous. He glanced at Alfred like he had betrayed him, and he didn't quite understand why.

"He was hit by a car and caused a public disturbance. You do realize we could give you a ticket for this? With all the incidents with robots going around lately, having one running around loose could very well be like shouting "fire" in a crowded theatre." The officer seemed completely un-amused.

"O-oh. I'm sorry" the small man looked harshly at Alfred, who didn't care much as he was more interested in the obscene size of the fuzzy man's eyebrows. "I don't know what happened to him, he just ran off. I think he misinterpreted an order I gave him. I'm sorry… it won't happen again." he laughed nervously, hoping the officer would let him off.

"Fine…" the officer sighed and put away the electronic pad that he would have used to write up a ticket for the man. " I'm leaving you with a warning, but if this happens again we are taking your robot in for testing and decommission. Is this clear?"

"Y-yes Sir."

With that the officer went back to his car, driving off to continue his patrol after giving the pair one last unhappy glare. That's when the short man turned to him. Alfred couldn't help by think that he was having the worst luck with short people, for the fuzzy browed man looked rather angry.

"Alfred! Why did you go running off like that! What did I do?" the small man looked upset as he began walking, and Alfred fallowed him, interested in what the man had to say. The other seemed to know him anyhow. "And they know you are a robot! Alfred, no one knows you are a robot! If this gets out, you know what they'd say about me?"

Alfred simply followed where the man was leading him, and after ducking through some alleys they were soon in a really nice part of town. The other walked quickly, not looking back to see if he was following, and he continued to babble in an angry manner. Well, at least the area helped him confirm that the man was rather wealthy.

The walk was rather tense though, and as Alfred maintained his nervous, confused silence, the other's anger only grew. People stared at them, and he assumed whatever was happening was an abnormal occurrence, and he was glad when they entered the front of a building, where there was only the person behind the desk to stare at them. That small relief was short-lived though, as he was snapped at angrily.

"Alfred, are you even listening to me! What's wrong with you, you would have normally said something by now! Are you upset with me?" he was lead into an elevator, and the small man had pushed the top button. They were going to a penthouse.

"Uhm…" he didn't know what to say to this man. Would it upset him that he didn't remember him despite the fact the other obviously knew him? And why did he run away? Did this man do something to him? Was he supposed to be upset with him? Slowly, he tried to formulate an idea of something to say. "I'm sorry?"

He only looked at him confused and shocked, like he had done something wrong. So he assumed that was not how he normally would act. He figured he should probably relax and just let his instincts take control of him, like he had so far, but he didn't have any idea of what to do. Seeing as the other was still expecting some sort of explanation though he sighed. He might as well tell him now.

"I'm sorry Sir… but uh… who are you?"

The man who was sharing the elevator with him just gave him a look of disbelief.

"Alfred, come on. You are jesting with me right?" the other looked completely shocked, his eyes showing a bit of hurt. Alfred assumed that he was acting strangely enough for it to be obvious he wasn't kidding though with the desperation the other showed.

"Uh… I'm sorry. I… I don't know who you are. I don't remember anything." He stood at the back of the elevator awkwardly, only moving to move the other into the penthouse after the doors had opened. "I just remember waking up lying on the street."

The other let himself be lead out of the elevator, eyes wide with shock and heartbreak. Sitting on the first thing he came to, which ended up being an end table, he put his face in his hands and rubbed his temples.

"I'm… I'm Arthur. Arthur Kirkland. I… you…." he looked up at the other, reaching forward to grab a hold of him, but meeting air. "You have to remember…we…." Tears began to drip down his cheeks.

Alfred thought it was sad, his heart moved for the small man. Reaching, he took the others hand as he was pulling it back, stepping forward and hugging the other. He didn't really know where it came from, but even though his memory drive was whipped, he had the habits still built into his system that his body still fallowed.

"I'm sorry….. I wish I could remember." He held the other close to his chest, laying his cheek on the top of his head. It felt right; it felt like that was what he was supposed to do.

It only made the man cry harder though.

Arthur pushed the other away quickly, whipping his eyes. He had to do something. He had to do something now.

"Come with me." He took a firm hold of Alfred's hand, pulling him back towards the elevator they just came out of. He had to do something.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This is the second chapter of the fic I'm writing for my friend. Please Review, this is only supposed to be a four chapter fic, but if there is a good reception I have a sequel that I was thinking about. Uh review please. : )**

** Words: 974**

The next thing he knew, Arthur had dragged him out and all the way to the other side of the city. He was completely silent the whole time, so Alfred stayed silent too, just following along compliantly. After a while, they eventually arrived at a door, and Arthur began knocking furiously.

" Mathew! Mathew open up!" his voice cracked near the end and Alfred started feeling guilty all over again. The human was really torn up over this wasn't he? He supposed he probably would have felt the same way if he hadn't been the one to lose his memories.

After a couple of minutes pounding at the door, a sleepy looking boy finally answered the door. He was in his pajamas, and curly hair was all fluffed up, just like he had just woken up. Which he had. Putting on his glasses, he looked at his rude houseguest who had to bother him exactly at twelve in the afternoon. Everyone knew those who needed the skills of the people in this household, it was a late night procedure.

"What do you want Arthur?" he frowned at his guest as he cleaned his glasses in the oversized sleeve of his red sweatshirt, and when he put on his glasses, it only got worse. "Aw Arthur, you know how I feel about you bringing him around…" he was staring past the short man at Alfred, who was now very confused. The man in front of him had his face. Not that he even knew how he knew his own face, but seeing the other, he knew that was nearly just what he looked like.

"Matt, it's not like that. Just let us in." he sighed heavily, eyes red from crying silently the whole way there.

"Fine, but be quiet, Eduard is still asleep." He moved out of the door way letting his two unexpected guests inside, before closing the door and moving towards the kitchen. He needed coffee if he was going to be up at this time. "So what's so wrong that you had to bother me at this time of day?"

Arthur wasn't bashful at all; he followed him quickly, explaining the situation.

"He lost his memories Matt. He can't remember anything." Eyes were wide with panic as he fallowed the taller man into the kitchen, Alfred trailing behind while looking around the dark home.

"Did someone hack him or something?" the other looked interested now, he always wanted to improve his work, and if there was a flaw in the system…

"No. No nothing like that." Arthur was settled at the counter while Mathew went to start coffee for himself. He curled up on the stool behind the island as he watched the young man move around the kitchen, only looking away to keep tabs on the curious Alfred who wandered around the home. "No, no, nothing like that at all…."

"Then what happened?" Matt looked away from the coffee maker, intense curiosity in his eyes, though it mellowed a bit seeing how pathetic the normally strong and defiant man sitting behind the counter was.

"We got in a fight Mathew." His voice was so small as he looked back into the kitchen. He didn't want Alfred to hear about this. Of course he was listening though; he stood in front of the mantle above the fireplace where he had been looking at things, and he listened. He stood perfectly still and strained to hear that small voice.

"We got in a really big fight and he ran off. He was so upset I…" he frowned a bit, the normal grumpy green eyes squeezed shut to prevent tears. "I ran after him, but he runs fast you know? And by the time I caught up he…" there was a hiccup and the small man whipped his face on his sleeve. "He had gotten hit by a car, and when I got there, he couldn't remember anything. He couldn't even remember me."

Mathew sighed, turning from the sad sight back to his coffee pot, watching it slowly fill up with the dark black liquid.

"You know this could have been prevented. I offered to back up his memory… but you-"

"Yes I know I know. It's my fault. But you have to understand… I couldn't I…"

"Yah. I know. You wanted it to be Al." There was a long silence as Matt continued to make his coffee. Sighing, he eventually turned back to Arthur and sighed. "Look, I'll see what I can do; I might be able to recover his memories. But that means I'm going to have to plug him in. And if that doesn't work, I'll check his wires, maybe something is loose. But when you asked Ed and me to do this, you asked us to make him as close to human as possible. So we did. So we might not be able to reverse this."

Arthur nodded weakly, forcing himself to unravel from the ball he had wrapped himself in and to sit up straight.

"I understand." His voice was soft and cracked a bit here and there. "I just… I just can't lose him again Matt. You should understand right? I can't lose Alfred again. Especially not this way, it was bad enough the first time when he didn't have any memories…."

"No, no I don't understand Arthur. Alfred's dead to me. He died a long time ago… remember?" there was an angry edge in the Canadian's voice, but it stayed level. Mathew was always the rational one. "Come Alfred, we'll see about getting your memories back." And with that, Mathew took his coffee and began to head towards his work room, only looking back once to see Alfred fallowing him from where he had been standing with a statue-like stillness at the mantle through the whole conversation.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry for the horrible lateness of this chapter. I promised that a chapter would come out a week, but then my computer was down for about three weeks. Technically this chapter has been done the whole time, but I haven't had a chance to sit down and edit it until now.  
>On the editing note, I feel that some of my sentences my sentences might be a bit run-on-ish and awkward. Please, I've had this beta'd by two separate people, but would you give me a critique? Yes you, personally you. I want your opinion. It would be appreciated. <strong>

**Also, someone mentioned to me in my reviews that the world seemed very futuristic in the some parts, but seemed very normal in others. This was done on purpose, because I really don't think that it'd be that different. Technology would have advanced, but I don't think that would automatically make everything shiny and stuff and that everything would have changed. Society is still society. Anyway. You can has third chapter. Sorry 'bout the long A/N**

**Words: 1432**

Alfred followed Matt into his workroom quietly, his mind spinning from listening to all of this. What did he mean he died long ago? What were they talking about? Standing in the doorway, he watched as Mathew began to set up his work bench and a chair. Seeing him preoccupied, he began to look around the small room, curious as always.

Alfred walked slowly, not wanting to be loud or he would feel like he was intruding. It already felt like he didn't belong here, like it was a sanctum that he was invading and he was never supposed to be there at all. All the thoughts stopped though when he noticed a picture, one picture taped above the workbench right across from the Matt's. Mathew was in it, as well as someone who looked just like Matt. Someone who looked just like him.

"Hey Matt…" he looked over his shoulder, calling gently to the other like it was something he had always done. " Is this me?" he gently pulled the picture off the wall and held it in his hands. There was something different about the way he looked, something he knew he didn't recognize from the image he had studied in the mirror out in the hall.

Mathew cringed hearing his name called like that. He had almost made the robot too perfect. Wiping some tears from his eyes he turned to see what the other was talking about, but upon seeing the other standing there with the picture, his heart broke and a rage born of a sad desperation swelled up in him.

"Don't touch that!" he was standing next to him in a moment's time, snatching the picture from his hand. Nothing had been disturbed from that area since _that_ day, and knowing that it had, knowing that it had by _that andriod_ upset him greatly. "It's not you! You will never be him!" he held the picture over his heart and pressed his eyes shut. It wasn't his time to be weak; he couldn't lose it, especially not in front of this... not Alfred.

"I-I'm sorry." Alfred stuttered, he shouldn't have done anything, he did something wrong just like he had feared. "I… I don't understand. I didn't know, I'm sorry." He took a step back, feeling terrible.

"Who… who is it in the picture then?"

The soft nervous voice broke Matt's heart and the rage slipped away. Looking down at the now slightly crumpled picture in his hand he sighed; his brother would never want him to act like this. His brother would have never wanted this to happen in the first place, these lies. Was it even ever right to have made this android? Was it right to have the power to give life like he did?

"S-sit down. I'll tell you all about it." He flattened the picture out on his workbench quietly and sighed, he needed to get to work anyway.

Alfred sat down in the chair that was indicated, and leaned back, a bit nervous as the other went about hooking him up to the computer. He felt a thin layer peeled from the back of his neck and cringed as he thought that it was his skin and flesh; and as he felt something buzz, he felt a bit nauseous as he knew it was a drill that connected to his skull. He didn't say anything though, he sat quietly, waiting for the other to start his work and begin his story.

Matt hooked all the wires up to him in the silence, his hands shaking and making the work a bit more tedious. He peeled back the skin with a cringe, not liking to feel the separation of the seam that had been invisible from the lack of use, and he trembled as the creature that seemed so human, slowly turned into the complex computer he really was.

Sitting down at his computer and accessing his memory drive, he sighed; it was time to begin. He clicked open some files, and began.

"I- It's not much to say really. He had been my brother." As he spoke, it was hard to concentrate on his task, but considering he didn't see much in the many files he scanned through, it was easy enough work. "His name was Alfred. Alfred F. Jones."

Mathew furrowed his brow a bit at how little files there were actually in the other's head. Even in his invisible files, the ones that were simply the system requirements to keep him running, they were barer than before; only a scarce amount of things like habits and things that made this metal creature Alfred remained from the many files he had originally created and installed. It was like he had been wiped clean.

"He was an engineer like me. I was helping him make androids, creatures like you. Metal machines that could think and feel; he never did get very far, but I don't think it was from lack of brilliance. I don't think he wanted to." And he was understood more and more why every day. "He and Arthur, they had been together."

Looking through this robot's brain was frustrating. With every word he said new files were created, getting in his way, but he couldn't move them for fear of messing up his brain. And the more files there were the harder for him to search through to look for memories or any corrupted data. Not that any seemed to even exists. He knew that any deleted data would never be permanently gone, but even when trying to recall that, he came back empty handed. Whatever happened to his memories, it wasn't a flaw based on his computing system.

"But then…" he sighed, sitting back from his computer, a dull pain behind his eyes saying a headache from emotional strain and frustrating work was forming. " Then he died."

Saying it hurt. Thinking it hurt. Admitting it to this creature who had believed he was Alfred; that was the worst. The reason he was created was purely selfish. He wasn't loved for who he was himself, but who he was made to be. As he glanced away from the computer, trying to avoid the hurt feelings flooding the screen, he couldn't help but see it in the android's eyes instead.

"Arthur was broken. He took it the worst out of anyone who missed him. It got so bad, he could barely function." Closing his eyes, Matt stood up and went back over to the chair, all the while trying to avoid eye contact. Going back to the skin, he peeled more up the other's scalp to reveal a panel. He removed it expertly, and began to check over all the parts of the other's computer brain, seeing if it was a chip or something that had been dislodged, causing the loss of memory.

"He came to me one day, begging me. Begging me to be his Alfred. He wanted me to _be_ my brother. I refused of course, but that didn't stop him. He came back with a different proposition, when not so hysterical. And that was where you came from. I spent several years creating you, finishing all my brother's work and I suppose it's now come to this." Mathew sighed, looking at everything in the back of his head, and glancing at the possible hundreds of empty folders opened on his desk.

"I'm sorry…." He sighed, quickly and naturally closing him up and putting him back together. "I'm really sorry that you…" he shook his head, unhooking him from his computer and sighing, smoothing the skin back together and brushing his hair with his fingers. Standing up, he walked around to look the android in the eyes. He didn't say anything more, but it was understood.

Alfred slowly stood up, feeling the back of his head. Somewhere, he felt heartbroken. It was not him who Arthur loved, he was not real. He was a replacement, he wasn't even himself. He was someone else entirely.

"I… I don't…" he pressed fingers gently to his temples, rubbing them, eyes wide. He was in shock, he was hurt, he was confused, and he was alone. He didn't even have a fond memory to give him hope. "Is there at least..?My memories…?"

Matt slowly shook his head, his gentle violet eyes sad.

"No… I'm sorry." The words were barely audible, but they rang out painfully clear, and soon after, a strangled sob could be heard, and Matt barely turned around to see Arthur dash away from the door.


End file.
